Dr. Rahma Aladwan, 31, a physician in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) who celebrated the October 7 massacre and described Israelis as “worse than the Nazis,” was charged Thursday with six criminal offenses: four counts of supporting the terrorist organization Hamas and two counts of inciting racial hatred. Metropolitan Police officers arrested her in Thursday morning at her home in Pilning, Gloucestershire, after she violated restrictive conditions imposed following previous arrests while on bail.
Following the levying of the charges, she was transferred to a central London police station, where she remains in custody and is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The four counts of supporting Hamas — an offense under UK terrorism law — relate to social media posts on specific dates: July 23, 2025; Aug. 23, 2025; Oct. 7, 2025; and Dec. 31, 2025. The two counts of inciting racial hatred relate to two separate incidents: the use of threatening and abusive language at a protest on King Charles Street in London on July 21, 2025, and the publication of similar written material on Nov. 19, 2025. Al-Adwan has previously denied inciting racism or hatred.
The charges mark another development in an ongoing case. In November last year, Aladwan was suspended for 15 months from her medical duties after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel found that her posts could undermine patient trust in her and in the medical profession as a whole. An investigation by the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) is still ongoing.
'Palestine is the whole map'
Aladwan, a British doctor of Palestinian origin specializing in orthopedic surgery and trauma care, responded to her suspension with a sharply worded post: “This decision is unequivocal proof that there is no independent medical regulation in the UK. The Israeli and Jewish lobby decides who can practice medicine in Britain.” She added: “This is not the end. This is the beginning of a much bigger battle over the integrity of our institutions.”
The posts that led to the investigation included a wide range of extreme content. She described Israelis as “worse than the Nazis,” referred to October 7 as “the day Israel was humiliated,” and called Hamas terrorists “resistance fighters” and “martyrs.” In a post marking the second anniversary of the massacre, she wrote: “Honor to breaking the 17-year illegal siege,” alongside an image of a bulldozer breaching the Gaza border fence. In another post, she stated: “I would join the Palestinian armed resistance now.” At a pro-Palestinian protest, she said: “For me, Palestine is the whole map.”
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She described the Holocaust as a 'fabricated victim narrative' and referred to the Jewish people as 'the most despicable people on earth'
(Photo: Social media)
She also referred to Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, as a “genocidal murderer,” and claimed that media attention to an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur — in which two Jews were killed — was an example of “Jewish supremacy.” “Apparently, the lives of four Jews in Manchester are more significant than the lives of 53 Muslims in Gaza,” she wrote.
In other posts, she described the Holocaust as a “fabricated victim narrative” and referred to the Jewish people as “the most despicable people on earth.”
'Escalation in the tone' of her posts
The medical tribunal noted in its decision that there was “no information indicating patient complaints or direct harm,” and that Aladwan’s lawyer argued there was “no evidence” that her posts affected her medical competence. However, the tribunal ruled that the posts “could undermine patient trust” and might deter patients — particularly Jewish patients — from seeking her care.
In June last year, the tribunal initially decided not to impose restrictions. However, on October 3, 2025, days after the Manchester synagogue attack, the case was again referred to the tribunal after the GMC said there had been an “escalation in the tone” of her posts. The council opened its investigation after receiving more than 200 complaints from the public and Jewish organizations in the UK. According to reports, she is also being investigated over antisemitic posts related to London’s Royal Free Hospital.
The case comes amid a broader government initiative: the UK Health Ministry has launched a public consultation on comprehensive reforms to the GMC’s disciplinary rules, which could lead to revoking doctors’ licenses over racist and antisemitic social media posts. The ministry acknowledged that there are “too many cases” of doctors using hate speech online without swift disciplinary action.
Lord John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, who was tasked in November with conducting a rapid review of racism in the UK health system, is expected to publish his recommendations soon, after describing the current framework as “too slow and too cumbersome.”